For the Love of a Vampire (Blood Like Poison 1)

She managed to look offended.  “I don’t have a dramatic bone in my body.”

“Let’s see,” Devon said, narrowing his eyes and tapping his chin with his finger.  “Just last night, wasn’t there some mention of a worldwide boycott followed by a withering death if Starbuck’s discontinues the Cinnamon Dulce?”

“Hey,” she said, her eyes round.  “It could happen.”

“Yeah, right.  No drama here,” Devon teased, rolling his eyes.  They both laughed.

I was smiling as I watched the interaction, envying their easy affection and uncomplicated relationship.  I sneaked a peek at Bo; he was watching me watch them.  There was a sadness just beneath the surface of his pleasant expression.  It drifted across his face like a ghost moving through the vacant rooms of an empty house.

For a moment, when our eyes met and held, it seemed as though he could feel the anguish that was plaguing me, that he too felt the unsettling shadow that hovered over us, over our relationship.

Reaching up, he brushed his thumb over my brow bone, as if to wipe away the frown I knew still lingered there, and, for a moment, it almost felt as if he had.  All too soon, however, Trinity’s boisterous laughter cut into our moment and I looked up to see her fawning all over Lars.

He didn’t look particularly thrilled with her at that instant, but Trinity was oblivious.  She was on cloud nine, a thousand light years from reality.  I wondered if she was overdosing on the “drug” of Lars’s presence.

But what a way to go, I thought, looking back at Bo.  He was my drug.

He’d turned to watch them as well.  Although his expression had gone sour as he brooded, it only served to make him even more painfully handsome, just in a dark and dangerous way.

I sighed quietly, careful not to draw his attention.  It seemed our relationship was destined to include pain of one form or another.

That afternoon, I noticed that Trinity was not in the Government class that we shared.  I had no trouble picturing her ditching class to spend the rest of the day on an elicit tryst with Lars.  I’d love to do nothing more than enjoy such a day with Bo.

As much as I disliked her ways, I couldn’t bring myself to feel ambivalent about Trinity walking into situation rife with danger.  She had no idea who or what she was dealing with, what she was unwittingly involving herself in.  I didn’t take it lightly, and I felt bad for not at least trying to warn her off sooner.

Resigning myself to the distastefulness of such a conversation, I decided that the next time I saw Trinity, I would talk to her.

Of course, I had no idea what I’d say.  I couldn’t very well explain that she was unintentionally consorting with a vampire.  Yet I had to say something that was compelling enough to get her to stay away from him.

I assumed I’d have more time to think about it, assumed that Trinity would skip practice like she’d skipped the latter half of classes, so I was surprised when I saw her making her way to the drill field.  Brushing off the dread that was weighing me down, I took a deep breath and rushed out to meet her, hoping to have a word out of earshot of the pack of gossip-hungry cheerleaders that stood by the bleachers.

“Hey,” I said casually when I fell into step beside her.  “Can we stop and talk for a second?”

Not only did Trinity not even bother looking at me, she didn’t stop walking either.  She just kept right on going.  “I have no interest in listening to your lame apologies.”

“It’s about Lars,” I announced, hoping that would get her attention.

And it did.

“What about Lars?” She stopped and turned to look at me.

It was then that I noticed how terrible she looked.  Trinity was a petite girl with natural blonde hair and uncommonly olive skin.  She looked perpetually tanned and was the envy of virtually every female in a fifty mile radius.  Today, however, her skin looked sallow and her face looked gaunt.  Her eyes, which normally glistened with a vivid (if not vicious) sparkle, were dull and lifeless.  To me, she actually looked like a drug addict, one who was in desperate need of a fix.

“Trinity, I don’t think he’s the kind of guy you need to get mixed up with.”

She snorted.  “Of course you’d say that, Ridley.  Jealous much?”

“Trinity, I’m not jealous.  I’m just…concerned.  That’s all.”

“Yeah, right.  Because you spend so much time being concerned about me.”  With a roll of her bloodshot eyes, she started to walk off.

“I think he’s dangerous,” I blurted.

Rather than making some snide comment or blowing me off like I was being ridiculous, Trinity just looked at me, a tiny frown creasing her ashen brow.

I could see the wheels turning, which made me wonder what she’d seen or noticed or perceived that was giving her pause.  It must’ve been something significant because it was unlike Trinity to hold her tongue.

“Dangerous how?”

“Just dangerous.  Period.  He’s not who you think he is.”

Her frown deepened and I could see a flicker of apprehension darken her blue eyes.  Just when I thought I was about to make some progress, an intoxicating smell teased my nose.  At first it sort of scrambled my senses, just as it had the last time I smelled it.  I looked over Trinity’s shoulder and I saw Lars walking toward the bleachers.

I might’ve been lost to the aroma, like before, had it not been for Trinity’s expression.  It sobered me.  Her face relaxed immediately, a barely-concealed look of ecstasy settling over it, like she’d just been dosed with some incredible narcotic.  I felt alarmed by her reaction; it was like she’d been brain-washed.

“You smell that, Trinity?  That’s not normal,” I said quietly, knowing Lars could probably hear me perfectly.

Trinity sniffed a couple of times, her happily dazed look never faltering.  “I don’t smell anything but the stench of your jealousy, Ridley,” she replied pleasantly, almost dreamily.  “You just can’t stand the fact that I found someone like Lars, someone so…so…”  She trailed off absently, smiling contentedly.

She didn’t know he was behind her, didn’t know that it wasn’t a coincidence that she had suddenly forgotten all her misgivings.  But I knew.  I knew that his close proximity was likely what triggered the change in her.  As long as he stayed close, she stayed under his spell.  I wondered if they’d had each other’s blood yet.  Maybe that’s why it took Mom’s thrall a little longer to wear off; she’d had his blood.